1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarizing plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A polarizing plate is used in an image display apparatus (such as a liquid crystal display apparatus). The polarizing plate generally includes a polarizing film and a protective layer for protecting the polarizing film. In recent years, it has been demanded that the image display apparatus be thinned, and in this connection, it has been demanded the polarizing plate be thinned.
Incidentally, there is a proposal of a method involving forming a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin layer on a resin substrate, and stretching and dyeing the resultant laminate to provide a polarizing film (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-338329). According to such method, a polarizing film having a small thickness (for example, 10 μm or less) is obtained, and hence the method has been attracting attention for its capability to contribute to the thinning of the image display apparatus. However, when the thickness of the polarizing film is reduced, the polarizing plate to be obtained has a problem in that its external appearance is poor.